Hercules And The 12 Labors Background In a

Hercules And The 12 Labors

Background ● In a fit of madness, Hercules murders his own children. ● In order to atone for his sins, Hercules goes to the Oracle of Delphi. ● The Oracle of Delphi instructs Hercules that he must serve King Eurystheus for 12 years. ● Eurystheus has Hercules complete 10 tasks that are so difficult that they seem impossible. ● Eurystheus demanded 2 additional tasks because he thought Hercules cheated on 2 of the original tasks.

Labor #1: Killing the Nemean Lion ● ● ● The Nemean Lion was a large lion whose hide was impervious to all weapons. Hercules tried to use his club and some arrows to kill the Lion. Finally Hercules cornered it in it’s cave and strangled it to death. He then skinned the Lion and wore its pelt as a cape. Hera later placed the Lion among the stars as the constellation, Leo.

Labor #2: Killing the Lernean Hydra ● ● ● The Hydra was a monstrous snake with nine heads (one was immortal) and poisonous blood. Every time Hercules smashed one of his heads, two more grew in it’s place. Finally, Hercules’ cousin started burning the injury to prevent new heads from growing. Hercules buried the immortal head under a large rock. Hercules also dipped his arrows into the Hydra’s poisonous blood.

Labor #3: Capturing the Hind of Ceryneia ● ● Red female deer with golden horns and hoofs of bronze; sacred to Diana, goddess of the moon and hunting. Could not kill or hurt the deer or he would anger Diana. He chased the deer for a year until it tired, but ended shooting it. After placing the deer on his shoulders, he explained the situation to Diana, who healed the deer and forgave Hercules.

Labor #4: Capturing the Erymanthean Boar ● ● The boar is a huge, wild pig with a bad temper, and tusks growing out of its mouth. After an unfortunate set of events that ends with the deaths of some centaurs, Hercules is finally able to track the boar. Hercules chased the boar until it was exhausted. He trapped it in a net and carried it back to Eurystheus.

Labor #5: Cleaning the Augean Stables ● ● ● King Augeas had thousands of cattle, goats, horses, and sheep so his stables were always filthy. Hercules was tasked with cleaning the stables in one day. He first removed the doors at both ends of the stables. Then Hercules dug trenches to two rivers, changing their courses. The rivers flowed in one end of the stables and out of the other.

Labor #6: Killing the Stymphalian Birds ● ● ● Next, Hercules was tasked with killing a large flock of vicious maneating birds. Athena provided Hercules with a pair of noisemakers made by Hephaestus, the god of the forge. Hercules used the noisemakers to scare the birds and then shot them as they flew away.

Labor #7: Capturing the Cretan Bull ● ● ● Minos, King of Crete, had broken a promise to Poseidon. In retaliation, Poseidon made the bull rampage across Crete AND made Minos’ wife fall in love with the bull. Minos’ wife gave birth to the minotaur after making love to the bull. Hercules easily wrestled the bull to the ground and then drove it back to Eurystheus.

Labor #8: Capturing the Mares of Diomedes ● ● The mares were a pack of maneating horses. Hercules overpowered the men tending to the horses and drove the mares to his ship. Diomedes sent soldiers to recapture the mares. Hercules killed Diomedes, made the soldiers run away, and took the horses back to Eurystheus.

Labor #9: Bringing the Girdle of Hippolyte ● ● ● Hippolyte was the queen of the Amazons, a tribe of warrior women. Hippolyte promised to give her girdle to Hercules peacefully. However, Hera tricked the Amazons into attacking. Hercules killed Hippolyte and took the girdle. Then he drove off all the Amazons and sailed home.

Labor #10: Capturing Geryon’s Cattle ● ● ● Geryon was a monster with three heads and three sets of legs that joined at his waist. His flock was guarded by a twoheaded dog, Orthus. Hercules easily killed both Orthus and Geryon. On his way home, Hercules had to deal cattle thieves and runaway cattle. Hera also sent a gadfly to scatter the herd when Hercules was almost finished with the quest.

Labor #11: Bringing the Apples of the Hesperides ● ● ● The golden apples were guarded by a hundred-headed dragon and the daughters of Atlas. Hercules had to make a sea god tell him where the apples were. On the way there, Hercules killed the eagle that was tormenting Prometheus for stealing fire. In gratitude, Prometheus told Hercules that Atlas would have to get the apples. Hercules had to trick Atlas into getting the apples AND taking back his burden of holding up the world.

Labor #12: Bringing Cerberus from Hades ● ● Cerberus was a vicious beast with three dog heads, a serpent for a tail, and snake heads along his back. Hades agreed to let Hercules take Cerberus if he could beat the creature with no weapons. Hercules had to throw his arms around all three heads at once in order to beat it. After taking Cerberus to Eurystheus, Hercules returned the creature to Hades.

Bibliography ● Graves, R. , & Davis, D. Greek gods and heroes. Garden City, N. Y: Doubleday. 1960 ● Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. New York. Little, Brown, and Company. , 2013 ● “Perseus Digital Library. ” Perseus Digital Library. Web. 18 June 2015. ● Rosenberg, Donna. World mythology : an anthology of the great myths and epics. Lincolnwood, Ill. : NTC Pub. Group. , 1999